Cover Story
The Hot Spot
How Richard MacKinnon and the Wireless City Project are making Austin the center of the tech universe – again
Ms. 45
Ms. 45 1981, R, 80 min. Directed by Abel Ferrara, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Zoë Lund. One of the best women’s revenge movies of all time, Ms. 45 stars Lund (aka Tamerlis, who is also the screenwriter of Bad Lieutenant) as a mute woman who, after being raped twice on her way…
Holiday
Holiday 1938, NR, 93 min. Directed by George Cukor, Starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant. Both stars are terrific in this adaptation of the J.M. Barrie play in which nonconformist Grant must win back Hepburn from the confines of her stuffy society family.
The Karate Kid
The Karate Kid 1984, PG, 126 min. Directed by John G. Avildsen, Starring Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue. The movie birthed three sequels and features the sweet relationship between Macchio and Morita, as the Japanese gardener who teaches the youngster about karate.
The Mad Magician
The Mad Magician 1954, NR, 72 min. Directed by John Brahm, Starring Vincent Price, Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor. The Mad Magician is a follow-up to House of Wax – another low-budget horror film starring Vincent Price as an unstable craftsman who goes over the edge.
Exhibitionism
Michael Healey’s The Drawer Boy is a sweet, sometimes hilarious, and ultimately moving story of lifelong friendship well-staged at Hyde Park Theatre
Phases and Stages
FastballKeep Your Wig On (Rykodisc) Fastball went on hiatus four years ago because one song had overshadowed their decadelong career. Actually, it was a smash that eclipsed the rest of their output, 1998’s “The Way,” but the local trio knew it deserved better. Splitting vocal and songwriting duties, bassist Tony Scalzo and guitarist Miles Zuniga…
A Gay-Bashing in the East Sixth ‘Dead Zone’
A brawl outside Emo’s raises questions about police protection east of Red River
Austin Online Wi-Fi Resources
From Austin Unleashed to the Wi-Fi Alliance
Readings
All this ‘represents my hobbies, my diversions, my day jobs,’ says Adrian Tomine, who will be at BookPeople on June 15, in his brief introduction. But it’s so much more.
Phases and Stages
Alejandro EscovedoPor Vida (More Miles Than Money) One prays Alejandro Escovedo heals quickly. If nothing else, Austin’s rock & roll Garcia Lorca – poet, dramatist – owes all those he’s touched a follow-up to 2001’s A Man Under the Influence, his indie breakthrough. Not to be confused with an upcoming tribute album in Escovedo’s name,…
Crime Statistics
(East of Neches / West of Neches) Total Crimes: 607 / 526 Drug Deals: 41 / 1 “Family/date” assault/injury: 21 / 10 Robbery by assault: 16 / 3 Rape: 8 / 2 Aggravated robbery w/deadly weapon: 6 / 0 Over the past 18 months, police have reported 607 crimes in the lightly patroled area east…
A Nonprofit, a City Council, and a Private Sector Walk Into a Park …
An unusual partnership
Page Two
Liberals’ core beliefs are as vital as ever, but they’ve forgotten how to communicate
Phases and Stages
Maneja BetoPara que las Paredes no se Aburran (Lengua Marron) Don’t spend too much time trying to classify Maneja Beto. Forget the labels, shut up, and dance. Remarkably, the band’s debut, Para que las Paredes no se Aburran, which is loosely translated as “so the walls don’t get bored,” is the result of a yearlong…
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
The Last Mile
Futurist Bruce Sterling and Austin Unleashed’s Zane McCarthy on the potential tangles of wireless
After a Fashion
What did the drag queen teach Stephen, and when and where will he get Wilde?
Phases and Stages
MigasHits-n-Mrs. (Perverted Son/Violent Hippy) They titled it, not us. Stalwart local indie Perverted Son, hand in hand with Seattle’s newborn Violent Hippy, has amassed 32 minutes of Migas’ heavy-handed stoner rock rarities and packaged them into a hand-printed, limited-edition CD. The trouble with the album isn’t the rock; God knows Jason Morales, Don Stewart, and…
Change Constant at City Hall
A new round of staffing changes, just in time for budget season
Down by Law
More than two decades later, ‘Wild Style’ still stands as a hip-hop high point
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Ted Kennedy, Emmylou Harris, gas, and UFOs
Phases and Stages
‘Hi-BoB’ CD ReleaseThreadgill’s WHQ, June 6 The result of Austin’s prestige in the music world is something no one saw coming: The capital of Texas is breeding its own little master race of musicians. You might see it at the Natural Ear Music Camp, Austin School of Music, or Ernie Durawa’s drum classes – any…
Children’s Comes to Mueller
City breaks ground on new hospital and a new future for the old airport
Required Viewing for Troubled Times
Craig Baldwin’s Blows Against the Empire
Day Trips
Buffalo Gap Historic Village, south of Abilene, provides a time line of Texas history
Phases and Stages
Dresden 45Paradise Lost (Expanded) (Arclight) In the sprawl of economically depressed mid-Eighties Houston, hardcore was often the catharsis of choice for disenfranchised suburban teens. High schoolers themselves when the band started in 1985, Dresden 45 became one of the most beloved acts to emerge from this era. Following in the footsteps of H-town expatriates D.R.I.,…
Weed Watch
Transit authorities have freedom of speech, too, judge rules
Short Cuts
If it’s June, it must mean zombies and free money
Soccer Watch
Europe holds its own championship, Euro2004; the rest of us wait for the World Cup
Phases and Stages
The New YearThe End Is Near (Touch & Go) The power of the Kadane brothers’ latest project, the New Year, is difficult to explain to the uninitiated. Let’s just say they play more perfect notes than anybody. Their music is an amazing nexus where surgical precision, ace musicianship, and thrifty minimalism intertwine joyously. The End…
Helping ‘Urban Colonias’
Give counties more power, Sam Biscoe tells a House committee
TV Eye
Plans are being made for even more gay TV. Whatever that means.
To Your Health
Is there any harm in microwaving food in plastic containers?
Phases and Stages
Darden SmithCirco (Dualtone) Circo is a nighttime album, meant to wash away the hectic day, wind down to. It’s a quiet, thoughtful album, but forceful, with the venerable veteran Austin singer-songwriter Darden Smith enacting Circo’s title by moving from concern about earthly love to a more transcendent love and then resolving the two. The sleepy…
Report: Poisons in Your PC
Computer users exposed to toxic flame retardants, new report finds
DVD Watch
It came to Robert Altman in a dream, and that much is clear
The Common Law
Filing a lawsuit in small claims court
Phases and Stages
Terri HendrixThe Art of Removing Wallpaper (Wilory) One thing you have to respect Terri Hendrix for is her work ethic. There are very few independent Texas artists who’ve labored to the point where they can boast a mailing list 50,000 strong. That said, there’s still something missing in her work to separate Hendrix from the…
The Sayings of Candidate Badnarik
The Libertarian Party presidential nominee hails from Austin
Second Helpings
Brick Oven 1608 W. 35th, 453-4330 Monday-Friday, 11am-2pm, 5-10pm; Saturday, 5-10pm; Sunday, 5-9pm Like a neighborhood-style pizzeria, Brick Oven on 35th serves home-style, thin-crust pizzas and pastas with a personal touch. Red sauces dominate the pastas, while most pizzas also tend toward the traditional, with the notable exception of Chipotle Pesto Chicken Pizza. Unlike a…
About AIDS
A common complaint among HIVers is a particular type of pain called peripheral neuropathy – pain, burning, numbness, or tingling in the feet and sometimes the hands. Peripheral neuropathy is experienced by perhaps 30% of HIV-infected folks. It may become so severe as to be crippling. PN is most often caused by anti-HIV drugs, especially…
Phases and Stages
This assortment of low-profile local releases is brought to you, mostly, by the letter G. Steve Schecter is Ghostwriter, a haunted road hog with a brimstone growl and guitar mixed hotter than Lucifer. Road Angels and Torrential Rains imagines Nick Cave waking up on the wrong side of the bed, fighting cottonmouth and arrest warrants…
The Bryant-Reed Connection
A DNA expert’s performance in a Bastrop capital case becomes an issue in the NBA star’s trial
Saved!
Teen satire softly pokes at the hypocrisies of organized religion.
TCB
I went down to the Crossroads, fell down on my knees
Letters at 3AM
Speaking through your children’s blood, and the words of the past and the present
Phases and Stages
PSR DVD Vol. 1(Perverted Son/Wage Slave Films) Welcome to the weird world of Austin’s Perverted Son Records, where feedback supplants steam whistles as the sound of modern industry, beery temples venerate Our Lady of Scratch Acid, and grown men urinate outdoors in broad daylight with no fear of persecution. This rough-hewn snapshot of a local…
Will Maria’s Save Walgreens?
The chain drug store and the indie south side landmark bring their deal to ZAP
Control Room
A timely documentary look at Arab news network al Jazeera.
Applause! Applause!
The full list of winners for the 2003-2004 Austin Critics Table Awards, recognizing outstanding achievements in local theatre, dance, classical music, and visual art
The Sauce Boss
Lauri Raymond looks back on – and forward to – the life and times of SASS dressing
Phases and Stages
Barbara LynnBlues & Soul Situation (Dialtone) With Barbara Lynn, what you see is what you get. The left-handed guitarist from East Texas hit the big time in the Sixties with her composition “You’ll Lose a Good Thing.” Lynn has done plenty of fine work since, notably her Antone’s release Hot Night Tonight in 2000, and…
The Elephants at Play
GOP State Convention features flags, sanctimony, preaching … and a little politics
The Chronicles of Riddick
Vin Diesel revs up the sci-fi franchise.
Do Kill the Messenger
Guest performers bring cameo cutups to Tongue and Groove Theatre’s production of The Comedy of Errors
Other Austin Salad Dressings
From Caesar to miso to basil to spicy peanut …
Phases and Stages
Omar & the HowlersBoogie Man (Ruf) For 2001’s Big Delta, Kent “Omar” Dykes revisited some previously recorded tunes, in part because they were solid compositions and in part because it’s a challenge to keep the blues fresh. Along comes Boogie Man for 2004, 11 dyed-in-the-Mississippi swamp tunes, and all but “Mississippi Mud” co-written with notable…
Austin @ Large: The Smoke Unclears
Further adventures in symbolism – and unintended consequences – at City Hall
Garfield: The Movie
Garfield Declawed is the result of taking this comic strip to the big screen.
Arts Bullets
Two Austin arts groups go to D.C. for an international arts festival, and another is headed to New York for one
Food-o-File
Joy Peppers, June books, festival news, and a roving French supper club: The Austin food scene is heating up
Unpardonable
The Bush record of ‘compassionate conservatism’ is amply illustrated by his clemency record in Texas
The Hightower Report
The horrors of war just keep unfolding
The Stepford Wives
Remake will quickly go from an idea that’s misbegotten to a movie that’s completely forgotten.
Exhibitionism
You and I may not share those things we keep deep inside, but Ladee Leroy will make you awfully glad that Lee Eddy does
Get in the Ring
Scott Weiland calls Andy Langer out
Compassionate Conservatism
ExecutionsCapital Cases Reviewed by the Governor: 154 Executions Confirmed: 153CommutationsCommutations Recommended by Board of Pardons and Paroles: 7 Capital Commutations Granted (Henry Lee Lucas): 1 Noncapital Commutations Granted (Sharon Denise Stewart): 1 Commutations Denied: 5PardonsPardons Requested (noncapital cases only): 377 Pardons Recommended by Board of Pardons and Paroles: 152 Pardons Granted by the Governor: 20…
Love Me if You Dare
Love and malice, as only the French can do it.
Exhibitionism
In Studio 2 Gallery’s “New York Stories,” photographers Hannah Neal and Martha Grenon turn their lens on the city that never sleeps
Walk Like Cleto
H-town’s Chingo Bling slings tamale beats
Building a Better Hill Country Suburb?
Developers Dick Rathgeber and Terry Mitchell say
Where to Find Wi-Fi
A partial list of hot spots affiliated with the Wireless City Project in the Austin area
Luv Doc Recommends: Rock and Roll Free for All
One thought that undoubtedly has been troubling you for the past week is, “Will the death of Ronald Reagan open the floodgates of Eighties nostalgia?” Could this perhaps be the Great Communicator’s real legacy? Will the remainder of the oughts be the era in which Eighties retro becomes the backlash to Seventies retro? Will Dexy’s…
